A little more than 10 days from the end of her mandate, Angela Merkel wants to put the spotlight on the Balkans. After a visit to Belgrade on Monday, she was on Tuesday in Tirana, the Albanian capital, where she met the heads of government of the 6 countries of the Western Balkans: Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. She once again pleaded for their integration into the European Union.
“Once the conditions have been met, the EU must keep its word and not keep inventing new conditions, because it does not want – for domestic policy reasons – to move the accession process forward. __When she does this, she creates disappointment“, launched the Chancellor to the heads of state of the EU.
The states of the Western Balkans are at different stages on the path to EU membership. Their progress on integration has been delayed recently due to the Union’s lack of interest in enlargement and the years of diplomatic turmoil the EU faced when Britain left the bloc.
In bilateral talks with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, Angela Merkel praised the progress on the rule of law in Albania and North Macedonia. It also recommended the opening of negotiations for accession to the Union with these two countries. Under the German EU presidency in 2020, Bulgaria had vetoed such a move.
In addition to the accession negotiations, the German Chancellor also pleaded in Tirana for greater regional cooperation between the countries of the Western Balkans. Governments have intensified their meetings in recent years.
Reference-feedproxy.google.com